


Drink Deeply

by regentzilla



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 15:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1474780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regentzilla/pseuds/regentzilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paula didn't get homesick until they were all the way up in Winters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drink Deeply

Paula didn't get homesick until they were all the way up in Winters. It was late afternoon, in a tiny hotel room with afternoon-orange snow settling puffy on the windowsill and the sound of Ness' cracky-poppy handheld radio mixing with the sound of their brand new friend Jeff sorting through his collection of screws and bolts and scrap metal.

It didn't take long for Ness to notice that she was snuffling, gross-crying into the worn fur of her teddy bear that she held trapped between her knees and her chest, hugging the bundle to herself.

“Oh no,” Ness said, clicking the radio off, “Paula, don't cry, what's wrong?”

The hotel was just... Winters was... it was all too different. She was used to mild seasons, a balmy summer and snow on Christmas if they were lucky. She was used to messy blankies and the sound of birds bubbling and cooing on the roof, not creased-neat sheets and the sanitary silence of a hotel.

“I wanna go home,” she hiccuped.

Ness' hand came to rest on her back, rubbing slow circles to calm her down. It helped, a little. The gasps that were starting to make her stomach ache settled into heavy breaths that stuck in her throat.

“Let's have dinner,” he said. “I always feel better when I'm not hungry.”

“We have instant noodles!” Jeff offered. “I'll put the kettle on.”

The sound of her friends stumbling together around the kitchenette, accents and dishes clashing with equal force, definitely helped. She was used to doing the cooking, and by the time the noodles were stewing in hot water she was actually giggling a little, scrubbing at her cheeks and smiling at their confusion.

“I... think they're ready?”

Jeff frantically swatted Ness' hands away before he could lift the plates holding the noodle containers closed. “No! They need three minutes! There's 20 seconds left!”

“Does that much time really matter?”

“Of course it does! If you give them less than three minutes they'll be chewy, any more and they'll be soggy!”

Ness lowered his head until his eyes were level with the counter. “Are they ready now?”

Jeff mimicked his position, hands on his skinny knees. “Not yet.”

That exchange continued for ten seconds, and after a frantic removal of plates and a juggle of forks and spoons the boys finally placed three cups of noodles on the table. Ness in particular was absolutely puffed up with pride. Paula left her teddy on the bed and sat in front of her noodles, still trying to rub away the redness she could feel in her eyes.

The first bite almost made her cry again, but in a good way. The noodles were perfect, sweet and sour and just tender enough. They tasted almost exactly like her dad's chicken recipe that he made on special occasions— the only thing she needed to feel right at home was a slice of pie afterwards.

“Th-thanks for making dinner,” she sniffed, smiling. “These are really delicious!”

“I know, right?” Ness grinned. “They taste just like burgers. I wonder how.”

“Burgers? As in cheeseburgers?” Jeff seemed just as perplexed as Paula.

“Well... hamburgers. But yeah. Did you two get different flavours?”

Paula watched Jeff carefully turn the plastic cup around in his hands, scanning the label for something more specific than the brand. “Mine taste like sweet and sour chicken.”

Jeff frowned and put his noodles back down. The label was facing Paula— there was nothing to see but the brand name in curly-cue red font. “They all look like the same flavour... not just the packaging, the noodles too, they looked exactly the same. But mine taste just like vegetable stew with an egg cracked in. Like the soup at my school's cafeteria.”

“Woah. Magic mystery noodles.” Before Ness was done talking Jeff was on his feet and assembling his chemistry set.

“I doubt they're magic,” he said, budging his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and examining a flask, “but it sure is a mystery.”

Ness and Paula finished their dinner at the table, and Jeff finished his seated cross-legged on the floor in front of a bunsen burner and a confusing array of glass tubes, occasionally pausing to collect another eyedropper of broth to run experiments on.

“We should get these noodles again sometime,” Ness said, washing the forks and spoons while Paula dried and tucked them away again. “They were super delish.”

Paula nodded. “They were. It's weird, but... I feel a lot better.”

Ness grinned and wiggled his fingers. “Maaaaaagic noodles.”

The sound of Jeff's equipment bubbling and burbling through the night wasn't quite the sound of sleepy birds, and the blankets were unfamiliar and Ness was tossing and turning and punching and snorting in his sleep in the other bed, but Paula squeezed her teddy against her warm, full stomach, and in less time than it took a kettle to boil she had drifted off into very sweet dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Based around the idea that Cups of Lifenoodles taste like the favourite food of whoever eats them, which is why they're such effective healing items. (Poo's Lifenoodles taste like extra spicy curry with lots of lemon and coriander.)


End file.
